Search This Blog

IWSG July

It's the first Wednesday of July and that means IWSG time! Woot-Woot! I hope the Americans in the crowd had a good Independence Day. You can check out the IWSG here!

Let me see--insecurities. 1) Why am I such a slow writer? I'm at 23K on my draft, I've realized it's not a historical romance but a historical with romantic elements (the romance people who read this will understand), and yeah.
2) I'm not sure how I feel about giving away my work for free, but Smashwords has a month-long sale for July. Both Pearl and "When Mary Left" are free with use of a coupon code for the entire month. Only available at Smashwords.

Frankly, I like being paid for my work but indie authors can't always be choosers. So far, the sale seems to be moving product.

On to this month's question:

What is one valuable lesson you've learned since writing?

So. Many. But I'll focus on how valuable research is because it's on my mind right now. If you want to be an author, researching writing, books, story structure, and publishing is imperative, but sometimes--most times--you need to research for the story itself. Because you don't know everything.

I love historical fiction, didn't want to write it for a long time because all that research seemed so daunting. And then I just started doing it.

My draft takes place in 1804 London. I didn't look much up starting this story, because 1804 is close enough to the Regency era that I can write Fictional Regency-Adjacent London and be fine. I looked up three things: what Napoleon was doing in 1804, what William Wilberforce was doing in 1804, and what date the Epsom Derby was that year. All of these things coincided nicely as a historical cushion for my story and off I marched into the writing mist.

I was writing a scene recently. Here's a bit of it:

Crestwell turned to him. "Miles, how
many slaves does Halbridge Hall own?"

"Ninety-four
when I left. And it was fifty pounds paid to the parish to manumit one slave at
the time."

Cresty
winced. "Fifty pounds! Multiplied by ninety-four."

"It
would be a steep payment, my lord," Sebold said. "Five
thousand pounds, about," Miles calculated. It was a substantial amount of
money, more than Miles's annual income.

This little snippet of a longer scene involves two pieces of research. Can you guess what they are?

In the 19th century, in order to free a slave, you had to pay a manumission fee. In this case, they're in England talking about a family property in Barbados, which raised its fee in the 1790s to fifty pounds per slave. In Pearl, fifty pounds is accurate.

But wait a sec, was that still the case in 1804? I wasn't sure. I mean, it wasn't a lot of time in between. I could probably fudge it. I could not mention the exact amount, right? I went through my notes for Pearl, went back to the sources, then ended up on Google Books. I found my answer.

In 1801, Barbados raised the fee: two hundred pounds to free a man, three hundred to free a woman. So now, the conversation was altered a bit and it continues into this:

"How much of the viscountcy's annual
income is that?" Crestwell asked.

"About
a third," Sebold said. Silence reigned. A third of the yearly income. Crestwell's face was still, but his
eyes blazed. Selling Halbridge Hall was one thing; freeing the slaves would be something
else completely.

"But
they've since raised it," Miles said. "Two hundred pounds for a man,
three hundred pounds for women." A
muscle under Crestwell's eye twitched.

Now, I'm not mentioning the value of research to pat my own back. Historicals are more research-heavy than most other genres. I've been told "it's not that important to get the facts so correct. You're not writing a textbook." But in this case, that manumission fee affects a vague plotting thing I had in mind. It makes it harder. It makes it more interesting. It actually affects the story, which is what you want your researched facts to do!

So take a second and Google stuff for your story. Take satisfaction in knowing the facts even if you twist them or fictionalize them or they're mentioned in passing or nobody else cares. Know that readers like me Google things about books they've just finished reading.

And yes, I do grumble briefly if something is off. Seriously. Why are authors still messing up British title usage? Google. It.

If only I'd been this research-happy in Research Writing class in college.

Comments

Oh my gosh...if I fall into a research hole, it's over for the story. I can't. For my current project, though, I watched a documentary and the Ides of March with Ryan Gosling (great movie!) just so I could get a tiny bit of my office politics right. It's not even important. It's just one of the reasons I felt intimidated by the story, so I stuffed a bit of knowledge in my head to give me more confidence. The documentary was boring, yet informative, but the movie is my kind of research!

To be honest, the manumission thing's not the main focus of the story, but it affects Miles's external plot, so I had to get it right. But still! You looked up things about Asheville when you wrote No Rest For the Wicked. It's something I've learned how to do while writing this kind of stuff, y'know?

As for the women costing more to free, it's because they could have kids, for one reason.

Researching because you don't know everything. I so agree with you. As a writer, you have to do research if you want your readers to move into your world. Great article. Shalom aleichem,Pat G Everything Must Change

Research is so important—especially in historical fiction. I read one such novel where it was obvious that the author did no research whatsoever. Though it made it an unintentionally hilarious book, it felt like an insult to the readers. So I definitely applaud authors who take the time to research their stories.

I don't write historical fiction for this reason. I get way more caught up in the story than the facts and details. I enjoy reading historical fiction, but I don't care if the details are 100% accurate or not, i just care that the plot and characters are engaging. But I appreciate that different people have vet different tastes in genres.

Oh, don't get me wrong--I get caught up in the characters and the story and all that and sometimes I don't care if the details are fudged if there's a reason for it. But if the things are fudged for no reason beyond not taking two seconds to Google something, then that's problematic.

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My plot bunny--which has been hopping around since about October, I think--is sort of shaping up to be a historical fiction/alternate history/contemporary dual storyline/time slip/romantic elements kind of mishmash thing.

As my friend Krystal Jane Ruin says, it's turning into a FrankenIdea.

I don't have a ton worked out about said Plot Bunneh--I don't even have characters' names yet--but I do know that the story revolves around an English country house. Or stately home, if you prefer. I'll go with country house because I don't think the house in my Plot Bunny is a huge palace-like mansion which is what "stately home" says to me.

Part of being a period and costume drama nerd are the buildings that those dramas take place in and sometimes, those buildings are beautiful, rambling, grand old homes nestled in the English countryside. It might be because I'm a history nerd or because I've read too many novels where characters have estates with coun…

I am a pretty deep Hamilfan, y'know? I saw Hamilton in 2015 (still bragging), I watched the PBS Hamilton documentary twice, I'm currently reading the annotated Hamilton: The Revolution book on my Phone's Kindle app.

My nieces have recently gotten into Hamilton, but not because of me. Niece #1, aged 10, got to see Hamilton on Broadway with her aunt for her birthday. When the nieces went to visit friends this summer, said friends' children listened obsessively to the Hamilton cast album in their car. They came back knowing the songs and being excited about Hamilton's story, like so many others.

Their parents even took them to Weehawken, a New Jersey town across the Hudson from Manhattan, where Hamilton and Burr's fateful duel happened in 1804.

And I'm up to the "Ten Duel Commandments" chapter in the Hamilton book. And it's been a while since I've ranted about something historical.

Once upon a time there was a witch. She was a kind witch, but that didn’t matter. The people were afraid, and fear often turns to hatred. When Artemis was thirteen, her best friend Aris was swallowed by the crumbling house they found in the woods. Like a coward, she abandoned him to the horror within. She moved away. She tried to forget. But when she finds herself back in her old neighborhood after college, the ghosts—and her guilt—are waiting. A charred figure stalks her dreams, and someone, or something, haunts her from the trees. Going back into the woods might be the only way to save her sanity. Because nine years later, the house is still there. Still waiting. Still restless.
On with the interview! 1. Ca…